The book that the editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair called "the funniest, most engaging book about food I've ever come across" has here been revised and updated. In this edition of Beat This!—from the author of Beat That! and One Bite Won't Kill You, as well as more than 40 children's books—more than half the recipes are completely new, and many of the originals have been "oomphed up" a notch or two to make them even more shamelessly delicious. Ann Hodgman presents more than a hundred all-time favorites, from Onion Rings, and Chili-Cheese Casserole, to Burnt Sugar Ice Cream and White Chocolate Raspberry Pie. NPR commentator Elizabeth Berg called Beat This! "the book I have probably recommended more than any other.... More than a cookbook, it is a humor book and a self-help book and a security blanket and a kind of a bible."

"The premise, that the recipes are the best of their type ('there's just no point in trying any other recipes for these foods but these,' Hodgman asserts), at first seems a bit haughty and also doubtful. But Hodgman admits that these matters are subjective ('doesn't every cookbook author think her recipes are the best?'), and the book emerges as a truly personal collection of tried-and-true formulas for classics like brownies, apple pie, roast chicken, beef stew, artichoke dip, and mashed potatoes. There is, in a sense, something very enticing about trying these recipes; anticipation is high as one thinks, 'Will this really be the meatloaf recipe I've been waiting for all my life?' In the case of the banana bread, for example, it just might be. So if you've been looking for that perfect pot roast or carrot cake but haven't quite found it, or if you need a dish you can count on to serve to a crowd, give Hodgman's recipes a whirl."—Publishers Weekly